After a rough 1-3 stretch that included 34-6 and 25-11 drubbings at the hands of N.C. State and Appalachian State in the midst of a disappointing season, Duke put itself in a position to shock the wrestling world.
With five duals remaining, the Blue Devils’ Zach Finesilver pinned Virginia Tech’s Brendan Ryan, evening the score at 13 against a team with seven top-15 wrestlers.
But after coming back from a 16-6 deficit Thursday against Old Dominion, Duke couldn’t scrap together enough late magic to finish a second straight comeback bid, falling 26-13 to No. 5 Virginia Tech after dropping the final four bouts. Even though they couldn’t complete the upset bid, the match wasn’t without some positives for the Blue Devils—fifth-ranked heavyweight Jacob Kasper toppled the Hokies’ third-ranked Ty Walz in what could be an ACC championship preview.
“You don’t feel good about losing, but you look at that team—they have triple in every area that we have—budget, support, all that stuff. They’re the fifth-ranked team in the country, and they came out of there with a bloody nose,” Duke head coach Glen Lanham said. “Our guys fought. There were some matches where we could have fought a little harder, but overall, we fought hard.”
Although the Hokies (15-1, 4-0 in the ACC) came out of the gates with the upper hand, taking a 9-0 lead thanks to commanding victories at 184 pounds and 197 pounds, Kasper delivered to lift the Blue Devils.
The redshirt junior captured his 17th consecutive victory, earning a 15-7 major decision against Walz. Kasper used three takedowns, escaped twice and closed in the third period with four nearfall points. The Lexington, Ohio, native moved to 23-1 on the season, picking up his sixth top-20 victory of the season to continue carrying Duke (3-6, 0-2).
Despite Kasper’s heavyweight victory, the Hokies opened up a nine-point lead after the 125-pound bout when second-ranked Joey Dance bested Duke’s Thayer Atkins with a commanding 18-4 major decision.
But after Cole Baumgartner chipped away at Virginia Tech's lead with a 9-4 decision at 133 pounds, Finesilver delivered a gem. Despite an up-and-down 12-8 start to the season, Finesilver quickly forced Ryan into submission with a pin just one minute after the close of the first period, tying the overall score at 13 by earning six points. With the win, Finesilver has now compiled nine points for the Blue Devils in his last two bouts.
“If you look at it, he had been struggling a little bit and [now], he put together two solid outings. He stayed within himself tonight, he didn’t press, he did what he does best,” Lanham said. “That’s fatiguing guys, wearing them down [and] getting on top of them. He’s peaking at the right time. Obviously, you want to start to put together some runs—he’s had some valleys, but he’s starting to see the top of the mountain right now. He’s starting to get better with his offense.”
Despite Finesilver’s improvements, Duke was not able to sustain its offensive momentum. The Blue Devils, who haven’t beaten a ranked team this year, were ultimately overwhelmed by the Hokies’ strong final four wrestlers.
A final foursome that included No. 2 Zach Epperly, No. 7 Solomon Chishko and No. 14 Sal Mastriani combined to flatten Duke 41-17 with a majority decision and three decisions at 149, 157, 165 and 174 pounds, taking the final 13 points of the day to seal the victory.
With three dual matches left in ACC play, Lanham thinks Duke needs more competitive spirit than it showed at the close of the match. In particular, the fifth-year head coach pointed to No. 18 Connor Bass in particular, who fell 3-1 to Epperly at 174 pounds.
“We got a call on the edge that I didn’t agree was a takedown, and that was the difference in the match, but he got a shot late in the match. Good guys like him, ranked number two in the country, aren’t going to give you many chances, so you’ve got to seize them," Lanham said. "He’s gotta get better at finishing, but also believing that he’s capable of beating Epperley if he goes out there and wrestles seven minutes hard. We’ve got to motivate these guys to wrestle deeper into matches and fight harder.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.